a cascade of scratch cards

[asakiyume]

I haven't been into the nearby convenience store in what feels like years. It felt very different inside, though it's the same space and selling the same stuff, so it's not *that* different. But the scratch cards behind the counter were displayed differently--they were in a waterfall, just pouring down from the back wall. Part of this impression may have been because they were mainly of just two or three types (?) and those were colored in greens and blues (?) Seems like when I go to the customer service counter at the supermarket, where scratch cards are also sold, it's more of an iridescent rainbow affair, like scales of different colored fishes have been made into gambling opportunities. But here it was blues and greens. American money colors, I suppose.

When I say "scratch cards," I mean those instant-play lottery tickets where you scratch off a silver covering and you maybe win some money. They're an addiction opportunity that doesn't entice me at all, but I know lots of people do buy them. And buy lots of them.

Do you ever buy scratch cards? If so, have you ever one a good amount? And if so, what (if you feel like sharing) did you use it for?

Comments

[ranunculus]

Got one once, just to say I had done so. They hold zero attraction for me.
In fact...
Some time in the late 1980's, my then boyfriend was taking flying lessons. At the flight school Christmas party he won a trip for two from Hayward California to South Lake Tahoe in a little 8 seat jet. The flight was nice and fast, less than one hour. When we landed it was cold and there was snow underfoot which undermined my plan for a nice walk. Instead we were all handed half a roll of quarters, bundled in cars and taken to a casino. I looked at the quarters, said "laundry money" and stuck it in my pocket. The inside of the casino was noisy and smoke filled so I went for a short walk outside. My boyfriend said he had a good time giving all his quarters, plus a couple, back to the casino. Mine were very handy for laundry.

[asakiyume]

Hurray for a flight in a little jet AND a roll of quarters for laundry. Smoky casino? Not so much!

[sovay]

Seems like when I go to the customer service counter at the supermarket, where scratch cards are also sold, it's more of an iridescent rainbow affair, like scales of different colored fishes have been made into gambling opportunities. But here it was blues and greens. American money colors, I suppose.

I don't think I have ever bought a scratch ticket, although I have a distinct tactile memory of scraping off the silver coating with the edge of a coin, which I loved. I was a child at the time. I want to say we'd found it in the street. I don't think any winnings were involved.

[asakiyume]

Our supermarket used to do a thing where you could win certain groceries with cards they handed out for free, and I've definitely scratched the silver off those! (And never won anything.) I've never bought a scratch card, though.

[sartorias]

I have absolutely no interest--and in fact didn't know what to do when son's gf bought me some for my birthday. I gave them to my son to scratch. Result: I won one dollar. First win ever! Still no desire.

[asakiyume]

I'm glad to hear that your breathtaking winnings didn't entice you into a gambling addiction! Also glad that your birthday scratch cards actually did win you something, however small.

[sartorias]

My suspicion is that they do a lot of dollar wins to entice people to throw more money down the drain. I was not enticed.

[dark_phoenix54]

My mom used to buy a scratch ticket at every grocery store stop. But she was lucky; she never won much but held her own- she'd make back what she'd just spent on the things. I'll occasionally buy a regular lottery ticket when the prize gets up to the high millions, and I've never won a damn thing.

[asakiyume]

The lottery gods were smiling on her, then! Just winning back what you spend is an accomplishment. When you say you've never won a damn thing, do you mean not even the cost of the card? That's rough. I am quite sure that would be me, if I bought one. I can just see myself scratching off the silver time after time and ... nope.

[gwynnega]

I buy a scratch card about once every decade. But I don't think I ever won anything from them.

[asakiyume]

You just need to hit the right decade ;-)

[raven]

When I was a teenager the traditional gift from your friends for your sixteenth birthday was a packet of cigarettes, a scratch card and a packet of condoms. (These days it wouldn't be the cigarettes, they raised the age from 16 to 18). I won £10 on that scratch card, decided I had peaked and have never bought one since. 😂

[asakiyume]

Your mentioning about the smoking age makes me remember that the drinking age rose behind me like a surfing wave--it was 18 when I was in high school but 21 by the time I was in college.

£10 is a great birthday gift from the lottery gods!

[puddleshark]

I don't normally buy scratchcards, but I have bought them occasionally in the past, when I've been landed with a sudden huge bill that has left me scrabbling desperately to manage my finances. In that situation, you tend to make irrational offerings to the gods of money.

[heleninwales]

Gambling holds no interest for me and I never understood people buying lottery tickets week after week when they were struggling financially. But I once heard someone say that it gave them permission to dream, so it suddenly made sense. As long as people only spend a pound or two and don't start chasing losses, it's OK.

[asakiyume]

What a great phrase, permission to dream. And if your best and most sober efforts are not going to do much for you other than inch you along this side of desperation, then yes: an opportunity to dream must be welcome. But yes too, you always hope that people's dreaming isn't actively hurting them.

[missroserose]

Yeah, the only time I've ever regularly bought lottery tickets was (counterintuitively) when I was struggling financially. $1 now and then didn't seem like too high a price to pay for a hope, even a slim one. And hey, I was helping to fund the AZ school system which was in dire need of it, so.

[asakiyume]

Plus it puts you in solidarity with everyone else playing, and I feel like that's metaphysically a good thing? ... It's kind of making me want to buy a scratch card, actually.

[asakiyume]

I understand that magic! And the gods are always gracious enough to accept, even if they don't reward the supplicant with a winning.

[mallorys_camera]

I buy scratchers for birthday presents every once in a while.

And I buy a single conventional lotto ticket when the payoff is high 'cause I figure fantasizing about winning is at least $2 worth of entertainment. 😀

[asakiyume]

Yeah, I like the way heleninwales puts it: permission to dream. I mean one could just daydream about finding a stash of cash under a boulder somewhere, but the scratch card makes you a more active participant in the dream. Plus, you've put in your offering, which makes the bid official.

[cmcmck]

Never. As a Quaker I don't gamble.

[asakiyume]

Is the no-gambling tenet something that's easy for you to abide by, or is it a struggle?

I guess what I mean is, if you weren't a Quaker, would you buy scratch cards? (Is being a Quaker what keeps you from buying them, or is it more that they're not a temptation?)

[cmcmck]

I've never found the idea of gambling appealing so it's one of the easiest things to abide by. :o)

[gingicat]

I experimented with it - I went in and got three cards, and took the small amount money I won above the original outlay and bought additional cards. I think that I brought home $20.

[asakiyume]

Wow, that's a pretty good experience!

[missroserose]

I'm beginning to suspect a certain amount of selection bias in your friends, because I also have never found gambling appealing in the least. The few times I tried it, my money was gone so quickly that the excitement didn't seem worth the cost, especially since (probably intentionally) the mechanism behind it was so opaque and nobody seemed interested in explaining it to me. (The one exception being the lottery tickets I occasionally bought back when we lived in AZ—it was a simple enough concept, and at least then I had all week to daydream about it.)

That said, I found this article about The Lottery Hackers absolutely fascinating, and I suspect you would too. :)

[asakiyume]

Hahaha, yes, I suspect there is some selection bias!

The few times I tried it, my money was gone so quickly that the excitement didn't seem worth the cost --I HIGHLY suspect this would be true for me too. (It's also my experience with most old-style arcade video games, but that's another story.)

And the article looks fascinating! Will read it next--thanks!

[asakiyume]

Wow: that was GREAT! Thank you so much for sharing! (Plus, Sunderland is literally two towns over from where I live, so that's cool.)

[queenoftheskies]

I haven't bought them, but when my kids were young, I chaperoned a field trip for oldest son's class to the LA County Fair and a local DJ gave me a stack of them. I had several that were instant $25 winners. That was exciting!

[asakiyume]

That's cool! Do you recall if you did something fun with the money?

[smokingboot]

Bought a couple back in the day. Never won more than a couple of quid on them, so they were easy to forget. For me, gambling addiction has been easy to avoid cos I am very gratification oriented and don't get a hit from the risk, only the win!

[asakiyume]

Nodding in agreement.

It's funny that here they call scratching a scratch ticket "playing your game." What game? It takes a minute or less to scratch the silver off. That is not a game! A game is something you have fun doing for more than a minute!

[amaebi]

I bought a couple of lottery tickets at my grandmother’s corner market when I was a teenager and such government lotteries (Francaise Quebecoise: Taxe voluntaire).

Interestingly, I am death on gambling now in a way I’m not about anything but cruelty.

[asakiyume]

Do you recall if you won anything from those lottery tickets? I'm guessing not?

[amaebi]

I won a free (and ultimately losing) lottery ticket, IIRC. :D

[asakiyume]

Disappointment in two steps instead of one!

[amaebi]

Huh. More like revelation: “Well, that was boring.”

[asakiyume]

LOL, that too, for sure. Definitely my impression of playing the lottery as well.